


Charlie’s Problems

by Rockin_Robyn



Series: In The Crossroads of Our Love [10]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Chinese food as a plot device, F/F, F/M, Implied Murder, Multi, Political refugees, Tattoos, g a y s
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 06:27:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20271427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rockin_Robyn/pseuds/Rockin_Robyn
Summary: Robyn’s brother-in-law, Charlie, visits when he’s having marriage issues. Robyn takes it upon herself to put the fear of God into him.





	1. Cariño

“Hey Robbie?”

Mike’s voice cut through the comfortable silence as He and his wife lounged about on their couch. James was out of town and the girls were with Mike’s parents.

“¿Sí, amor?”

The latina looked at him and slowly bit the strawberry in her hand.

“Inglés por favor, no sé las palabras que necesito.”

Robyn tensed up and looked at him with something akin to fear in her eyes. 

“What happened?”

Mike shook his head.

“Nothing bad. For us.”

He sighed and looked at his phone as it lit up.

“My brother Charlie. He uh, he and his wife are having trouble. So I told him he could stay with us for a few days.”

Robyn hummed lightly and scooted closer to the man. She nuzzled his neck and picked up his phone.

“When is he getting here, Cariño?”

Before he could respond, his phone lit up again.

‘I’m here. What flat number is it?’

They read the message in unison. Robyn turned the phone off and squinted at Mike. He tried to look anywhere but her face.

“He’s here.”

“I noticed Mike.”

She sighed softly and stood up. She walked into the kitchen and began rummaging through the cabinets.

“Let him up. I am making dinner before I have to go.” 

“Lo siento, Princesa.”

Mike put his hands on her waist and swayed them, humming in her ear. She tilted her head up and kissed his cheek.

“I do not mind him being here. I just wish you had told me.”

“Before he got here.”

She laughed as there was a knock at the door.

“Come in!”

She shouted as she laughed again and began to sway with the man behind her. Charlie entered the flat and immediately saw them. He smiled briefly, glad to see his brother happy, before remembering why he was there in the first place. He cleared his throat and looked pointedly at the couples’ hips.

“Am I interrupting something, Mrs. Castillo?”

“Hmm, nah. He can make up for it later.”

The small woman nipped at Mike’s jawline with a giggle.  
———————————————  
“Thanks for dinner, Robyn.”

Charlie put his plate in the sink and smiled at her. She shook her head head and laughed.

“Thanks for giving me someone to cook for. Señor Remilgado’s stomach won’t accept my culture. To much beef and cheese for him I think.”

“Re, remil... gado?”

“Finicky, Charlie. Your brother has a sensitive stomach.”

“Oh.”

Charlie looked at his feet. Robyn patted his shoulder and squeezed for a bit.

“It is not your fault you don’t speak Spanish. I still forget how to say corbata el pelo in English all the time.”

Again with the blank face.

She snapped the rubber band on Charlie’s wrist.

“Corbata el pelo, Charlie.”

She was rather close, their chests bumping, Charlie’s face flushed. Robyn opened her mouth to say something then shut it. Then she suddenly looked over his shoulder. 

“You do not need to stand there looking like a kicked puppy, Cariño. I am not going to fuck your brother. I made a joke in Spanish that he didn’t understand. I told him not to worry. Like I am telling you.”

Mike made a sound like a suffocating parrot and bristled like a porcupine.

“Thanks for the effort Robbie. I look like a kicked puppy because our boyfriend is coming back next Saturday, not tomorrow like we thought.”

Robyn looked him in the eyes and let her shoulders slump.

“Oof”

Shaking her head, Robyn walked around Charlie and gave Mike a peck on the cheek. 

“Can you go to the shop, love? I’m making carné asada tomorrow and I do not have time for shopping. Plus you need to practice your Spanish.”

Mike groaned as his wife smiled at him. 

“You know they don’t like me! Why can’t you go tomorrow morning?”

“Just walk up to the meat counter, take a deep breath and say ‘¿Podría darme un punto 1.35 kg de carne roja?’ You will be fine.”

“1.35? How could we possibly need that much meat?” 

Robyn rolled her eyes and held up a finger. She walked into their bedroom and shut the door. Mike a Charlie exchanged inquisitive looks. Charlie opened his mouth to say something, only to close it again as Mike shrugged. 

Robyn appeared a second later, holding a pair of boots. She walked into the kitchen, pulling on her tube top. She grabbed her husband’s hand and dragged him into the lounge. Placing one boot on the floor, she sat on the coffee table behind her. 

She tugged a boot on as winked at his brother. The small woman began to speaking as she tugged on her second boot. 

“We are feeding your parents, your children, your wife, your brother, and you. So we need a lot of beef. And pork. And cheese and sour cream and cilantro and cabbage. So get in the damn car.”

Before Mike could ask what she meant, his phone vibrated. He pulled out to check it. 

“When the hell did you get me an Uber?”

Robyn grabbed the phone out of his hand and tucked it into his pocket. 

“Don’t ask questions and tell your wife how her fishnets look.”

“You? Your uh, your roses are showing.”

Robyn shoved her blushing husband out of the door and turned to smile at Charlie again.


	2. Poke Poke

A few minutes passed in silence. Robyn stiffened and then nodded, seeming satisfied with herself. She disappeared for second and returned with one cat in her arm, one cat on her shoulder, a large dog following her, and another cat sitting on the dog’s back. Charlie furrowed his brow. He wasn’t even aware his brother had more than one cat. 

She softly placed each cat on the cat tree next to the tv. She motioned for Charlie to get off the couch then patted it and looked at the dog next to her. The dog leapt onto the couch and laid down its head as it stared sadly at Robyn. The woman tutted warmly and pet the dogs head.

“Good girl. Mamā has got to leave right now. And she will not be back for a while. Be good while I’m gone. Daddy will be home in an hour. And do not let your boys get into any trouble. Te amo, pequeña.”

She turned to the man staring at her and beamed.

“We better get going, sí?”

He made a choking sound like his brother had earlier but followed her out of the door. He followed as she got into the elevator. He followed as she left the building and got into a taxi.

“Where are we going?”

“I have an appointment.”

“Where?”

“I will tell you what I told your brother. Stop asking questions.”

She nodded resolutely and opened her phone. She sent a text quickly then turned it off, shifting to put it back in her pocket. She turned towards him.

“You are going to be quiet when we get there. You will be quiet unless you are asked a question. Do not ask any questions. You might lose a hand if you do.”

Charlie remained quiet. He prided himself on being able to read people and tell if they were lying or being facetious. With Robyn, it was always blurry or blank. The small woman genuinely scarred him.

Soon, they exited the taxi. They stood out side a small shop with a flicker open sign. The large display window was covered by metal bars and Charlie could only see what looked like a secretary’s station. The large neon above the shop read ‘Мы тыкаем, Ты платишь’.

Charlie didn’t speak Russian, but he assumed it either wasn’t pleasant or it was a front. He went to turn and look at his sister-in-law, only to find she had moved to open the shop door. The pair stepped into the empty shop. Robyn quickly moved past the desk, going through a door Charlie hadn’t previously seen.

He started to question her, then remembered their ride over and thought better. He followed her and tried to shrink down. He didn’t like the feeling of his surroundings. The shop front was to quiet and pristine. Robyn wasn’t one to be quiet or silence people. If his brother’s wife had dragged him into a drug deal, or something else unsavory, he had severely misjudged her.

The door lead to a small corridor, which was ended abruptly by a dark red curtain. As they walked down the corridor, Charlie could hear a slight buzzing and many voices talking in a few different languages. Robyn pushed the curtain aside and motioned for him to walk through. As soon as he was on the other side of the curtain, all eyes were on him. He was standing stiffly in a large room that was divided by what looked like the same material as a bathroom stall. 

In some stalls, people were laid out on chairs or other pieces of furniture resembling hospital checkup beds, in various states of undress. Some were asleep, others looked as if they were crying, and others were simply carrying on conversations. In other stalls people were hunched over tables talking gruffly. In a stall at the very end of the room, a man was holding a strange gun like object to another man’s ear, and in the stall opposite, two women were making out quiet vigorously.

Robyn walked in behind him and the occupants of the room calmed down. She waved and smiled at a couple of them as she lead him to a stall in the middle of the room. From the stall, mellow music flowed out. Charlie was quite enjoying it, having been lulled into a warm sense of security, until he heard a man crooning at an unknown subject about being the saint of sucking cock. Honestly, who played music like that in public?

A man with a shaved head and a big beard, covered in tattoos, was laying on a bed, eyes closed. She knocked lightly on the door and the man opened his eyes lazily. He blinked and sat up, beaming at her.

“Robyn!”

The man stood, throwing his large arms open. Charlie flinched at the man’s loud, gruff, voice as Robyn threw open her arms as well. They hugged and the large man picked the small woman up and spun her around the large stall as she laughed and banged on his shoulders. He set her on the floor and looked her up and down. He lost his smile and crossed his arms.

“Когда ты сказала, что приведёшь гостя, я думала, что ты имеешь в виду Чоризо или Ли. Why you bring him?”

The man spoke in quick, angry Russian, gesturing at Charlie. Charlie was scarred shitless. Robyn, on the other hand didn’t seem fazed. She just laughed. 

“Он мой брат, у него проблемы с женитьбой, и мы собираемся внушим ему страх перед богом, потому что мне нравится его жена на русском.” 

The man chuckled and shook his head. He motioned for Charlie to sit on the chair next to the bed Robyn had sat on. He turned to his desk and shuffled a few papers.

“Did you at least bring me my order?”

Robyn shook her head and swung her legs on the edge of her seat. 

“Nah. But I’ve got Lee bringing it by.”

The man groaned and turned to look at the small woman again.

“Why? Why do you do this to me, devil woman?”

Robyn giggled and shook her head.

“Because I am tired of watching him write sappy messages on your container that you translate when I’m not looking then not telling me what it says, you bastard. Be flustered on your own time. I do not come here to watch you blush.”

Before the man could respond, there was a knock on the stall. Charlie turned to see another gruff looking man smirking. 

“Hey Alexi, your boy-toy is here.”

The man walked away laughing, as a small Asian boy walked into Alexi’s stall, holding plastic bags with smiley faces and Asian characters on them. He waved at Robyn and Charlie and smiled shyly at Alexi. The boy breezed past them and sat his bags on Alexi’s desk. 

“H-hey Lee.”

“Hey, Alexi.”

“How, how much is it?”

Lee blushed and looked at the floor briefly.

“I got it. It’s free this time.”

Alexi opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Lee. Lee placed his finger on Alexi’s lips.

“Trust me. Please? Just this once?”

Robyn looked up at the ceiling and started ‘innocently’ whistling. The pair abruptly separated and Lee rushed out of the stall.

“Wait! Lee!”

Alexi ran after Lee, leaving Charlie and Robyn alone.

“So...”

“What’s their deal?”

Robyn scoffed and shook her head.

“Long story. Alexi is a political refugee. He left his wife and daughter behind because if he stayed in Russia they all would have been killed. When he moved here, a couple years ago, he met Lee. Lee and I taught him English. Lee knew he was gay and Alexi was started to realize he was too. They had an affair that carried on for a year. Then one day, Alexi’s mom called. His wife and daughter were killed in a car wreck. They broke up and it took a year for them to start talking again. They have been like that ever since.”

Charlie took a deep breath.

“Wow. That’s really sad.”

“What is sad?”

Alexi entered the stall, flushed, out of breath, and his cheek was smeared with something that looked suspiciously like Lee’s lipstick.

Robyn answered quickly before Charlie could blurt something out and embarrass himself.

“Case my boyfriend is working on. Twins forced to have sex with each other on camera by their father. He is in prison right now, but Jamie is fighting to get them removed from the home and get the mother arrested too because she knew but never said anything.”

“That is very sad. Back in day my family kill men like this.”

Robyn nodded solemnly. She jerked her head towards his desk. 

“You know what is not sad, though? Fried rice.”

Alexi clapped his hands together.

“Yes. I’ll get the food at and you show me what we are working with.”

Charlie’s head was swimming. He had been here for twenty minutes and so far he had been terrified by Alexi, confused by Lee, saddened by their story, and angered by the story of the twins James was representing. On top of all of that, he still didn’t know why they were there.

He was suddenly filled with horror, surprise, and disgust, when he saw his sister in law tying her flannel around her waist and taking her shirt off. Before he could ask what the hell she thought she was doing, she laid down on the bed, revealing her back. Her back, which was covered halfway down by a beautiful tattoo of angel wings.

Suddenly, it hit Charlie. He was at a tattoo shop. He was also an idiot.


End file.
